Chapter 96
"Walk beside me."
"Understood."
Fssssh!
"Aldraya, you don't mind my earlier suggestion, right?I mean… I brought you here without any explanation."
Amid the commotion of the article hall that displayed worn pages wrapped in modern technology, their footsteps echoed as foreign murmurs that seemed unwilling to blend with the crowd.
Theo walked slightly slower than usual, measuring every pulse of air that felt as though it was made of doubt and empty space.
Aldraya followed him without sound, without reaction, without questions, just a stiff shadow reflected on the floor as if she were not part of a world that allowed hesitation at all.
Among the towering buildings standing side by side—each repeatedly reflecting cold glimmers—Theo tried to decipher the strange pause between them, a pause that reminded him of the moment after a storm when the sky still held remnants of dull gray.
In that moment, he realized that the discomfort he felt did not come from the noise of this place, but from the way Aldraya accepted each step in silence as though whatever he did was not a choice but a consequence predetermined from the start.
The long line stretched like a slow river unsure of its destination, and the two of them stood at its edge, side by side yet separated by a quietness too silent to be called peaceful.
Theo turned his face away for a moment, trying to reorder his feelings about the short trip he had suddenly suggested himself, a decision that seemed simple but left a faint crease of unease in his mind.
Behind Aldraya's empty gaze lay something that felt like a sealed space never meant to be touched, as if there were an invisible door guarding layers of awareness never spoken aloud.
Meanwhile, Theo considered the subtle tone of Aldraya's steps, which continued following his rhythm without the slightest change, without refusal, without emotional agreement.
That realization made him understand how blurry the boundary was between willingness and resignation, between truly accepting and simply moving along the safest current.
"Then, please wait here. I'll go pay for the tickets."
"..."
Shaaassh!
"Okay, we can go in now."
"I didn't understand your earlier question.Were you truly asking, or were you merely mocking me?
I'm just a girl who spends her time writing in her room.
And as you know, I'm a teacher at the academy."
Fhhhh!
'Makes sense. Judging from her daily interactions, Aldraya really is the quietest teacher among the others.'
Theo slowly lowered his hand after receiving two tickets still warm from the touch of the attendant, and behind the clear glass framing the registration counter, the silence accompanying the transaction seemed to emphasize how unfamiliar this place was to him.
Soft light from the panel lamps crept upward along the walls, casting reflections that highlighted the blend between modern order and a nearly ancient archival atmosphere.
When Theo guided Aldraya inside, his steps tried to balance the thin unease that clung to him like a cool breeze that had yet to fade.
In his mind lingered the worry that his earlier question might have been too sudden, touching something that should not be touched, especially when all he received in return was silence.
But Aldraya paused briefly before following him, as if that small pause carried an unseen weight.
Her gaze remained flat like a glass surface reflecting nothing but cold stillness, yet behind that motionlessness appeared something resembling restrained explanation, an honesty that emerged not from emotion but from a duty to clarify a previously blurred boundary.
She stated that she did not fully understand Theo's earlier question, unclear whether it was meant sincerely or as a subtle mockery aimed at a girl who spent most of her life wrestling with writing in her cramped room.
Her space was a teaching space, a thinking space, a writing space that never let her go, and as a teacher at the academy, that narrow world had already shaped her daily rhythm.
The explanation flowed without emotion, but precisely because of that detachment, the words became clearer, like water carrying nothing but itself.
Theo felt it like a faint breeze in the middle of the hall's noise, a sign that Aldraya did not process his question as something that disturbed her, but merely as a sentence passing through the silent universe she lived in.
"Just asking. But if you want to take it as mockery, honestly I won't really care."
'Just a spontaneous idea. A little mischief so her mood wouldn't always be that serious and stiff.'
"I'm simply asking, Aldraya. But if you think it's mockery, then go ahead."
Under the dim sunlight touching the ground, Theo let his laughter rise lightly like a small mist swallowed by the brightness.
There was something in the way he looked at Aldraya that felt like a thin play between seriousness and jest, an impulsive urge that appeared without planning.
He remembered how Aldraya had walked earlier with calm rhythm, without turning, without any change in expression, and perhaps that very calmness made Theo want to stir her, to scatter a small spark upon the surface too still for the taste of ordinary people.
This wide hall seemed to welcome such little irregularities, letting Theo's behavior flow like thin ink across a page of history that was never truly empty.
Then, with bravery wrapped in light teasing, Theo uttered a response carrying two layers of meaning readable only to one who paid close attention.
He stated that his earlier words were truly a question, but added a faint tone that allowed broader interpretation.
If Aldraya saw it as mockery, he did not care, and that indifference was not true indifference but a subtle invitation meant to see a crack on her expressionless face.
Like someone tapping the surface of glass to see if the water beneath was really still, Theo tested the thin line between Aldraya's logic and the emotional side that rarely surfaced, as if wanting to uncover whether there was a hidden tremor deep within her.
"For you."
Plaaak!
There was no wave of emotion on Aldraya's face when Theo spoke his final word, as though her surface remained as calm as glass that reflected nothing but a flat silhouette.
Theo briefly thought his attempt had truly failed to leave a mark, that Aldraya would not respond even in the form of a delayed half-second blink.
But when the ticket in his hand reminded him of their purpose, and he lifted one to hand over, the space between them became the center of something unreadable.
The lights around them crept slowly along their shoulders, yet the silence that followed felt heavier, like air holding its breath before a storm breaks.
Aldraya's movement came so quickly that the world around her seemed to lose its frame.
Her palm snatched the ticket Theo held with a force that did not match her calm expression, forcing their hands to collide in a hard impact that shattered the silence.
The sharp sound echoed through the room like metal striking air, startling and crisp, making the thin boundary between them crack into small fragments.
The impact did not merely reveal that Aldraya had reacted, but also that something deeper was moving behind her calmness, something she never wished to show but still emerged in its most physical form.
To be continued…